Seven Speaking Tips That Beat “Pretend Your Audience Is Naked"
比“假装你的观众都赤条条的”更实用的7个演讲技巧
by Harry Beckwith
作者：Harry Beckwith
Once upon a time, I suffered from glossophobia.
曾经，我也是一名演讲恐惧症患者。
This affliction touches almost everyone: it's the fear of public speaking, even to the tiniest group.
这种恐惧触动几乎每一个人：这是一种在公众场合演讲的焦虑，哪怕观众只是极小的一撮人。
I conquered it by discovering what makes people smile, nod, and listen carefully, because nothing calms you down faster than an interested audience.
我最终通过发现如何使人们微笑、点头、认真倾听来战胜了这种恐惧，因为没有比一群对你的演讲表达出勃勃兴致的观众更能使人平静的良药。
This is what I've learned.
People love stories. Children plea for them at night, and adults crave them, too. Stories make us wonder--"What happened next?"--which keeps us engaged, even enthralled.
以下是我学到的经验：
人们爱听故事。孩子们晚上总请求父母讲故事，成年人也爱听故事。故事激起我们的好奇心——“接下来发生了什么事？”——这让我们不容易分心，甚至入迷。
People don't want to be impressed. They want to feel respected. Early in our careers, we feel tempted to impress an audience. We assume this will make our ideas sound impressive, too. But if your words or actions suggest "I am better than you," people won't care what you say.
人们不喜欢被煽动情绪。他们喜欢感受到尊重。在我们职业生涯的早期，我们常常很想给自己的听众留下深刻印象。我们认为这会让我们的观点听起来更令人信服。但是，如果你的发言或行为带有“我比你强”的暗示，人们将不在乎你说了什么。
This principle also underlies another rule of effective speaking: "Dress like your audience, but just a little bit better."
这些原则也构成了另一条演讲规则的基础：“以你观众的着装为准则，但要比他们好一点点。”
Don't try to impress them. Try to touch them.
不要花力气让他们对你印象深刻。花力气感动他们。
People care if. If you truly want to help your listeners--by informing or motivating them, or improving their lives--they will care, and listen. But they will care only if you do.
人们在乎“如果”。如果你真的想帮助你的听众——通过向他们传达信息、鼓励他们，或改善他们的生活——他们会在乎，并且倾听。但他们只在你真正这么做的时候才在乎。
This recalls a favorite tip: "If you really care, notify your face."
这让我想起我最推崇的秘诀：“如果你真的在乎，请把‘在乎’写在脸上。”
Your eyes mean everything. We mistrust someone who won't look us in the eyes--even if our eyes are among over 200 sets in a room. We regard peoples' eyes as windows to their souls, and it's from our eyes that people assess us.
你的眼睛里写着一切。我们不信任不敢直视我们双眼的人——哪怕我们的双眼是房间里超过200双眼睛之一。我们把双眼看做灵魂的窗口，人们通过我们的眼睛来评价我们的为人。
If you look each person in the eye for a few seconds, you make each person feel respected--a feeling every person craves. It also makes each audience member feel involved, in what feels like a conversation and not a recitation.
如果你直视人们的眼睛数秒钟，你会让他感觉到尊重——一种任何人都渴望的感觉。直视眼睛同时也让观众体验到参与感，让他们感觉置身于一场对话中，而不是在听报告。
For this reason, minimize visual aids. They break eye contact and make it appear that you are talking to the screen and not to your listeners.
因此，我们要减少演讲的辅助工具。这些工具的使用会打断眼神的交流，而且造成你在跟屏幕说话而不是在跟你的听众说法的错觉。
Look them in the eyes.
直视听众的眼睛。
Preparation matters--but not for the reason you suspect. Preparation does more than make a presentation appear polished--and a too-polished presentation actually can feel inauthentic, even souless. If you've spent hours learning about the people to whom you are speaking, you will communicate the most compelling message you can deliver to a person: You are important to me.
准备工作很重要——但不是你所认为的原因。准备不仅仅意味着润色你的发言——一篇过度打磨的发言稿反而显得不真实，甚至没有灵魂。如果你提前花费数小时去了解你的听众，你就能在演讲中传达最精彩的信息：你对我很重要。
If it's worth saying, it bears repeating. The old rule--"Tell them what you are going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you told them"--reflects the limitations of our memories. Plus researchers have shown repeatedly that people are more apt to believe something they hear more than once--even if they hear it from the same person, and even if they question that person's credibility.
值得重复的信息，请重复。一条经典规则——“告诉他们你将要说的内容，然后描述这个内容，然后复习你刚刚说的内容”——这很生动的描述了我们记忆的局限性。此外，研究多次表明，人们更易于相信他们听过不止一次的事情——哪怕是从同一个人口中听到的，哪怕他们怀疑其真实性。
Repetition works.
重复是有效的。
People love music. An outstanding speech is musical; it ebbs and flows, hits a variety of notes, and makes beautiful use of pauses and silence. Just as in humor, speaking's key ingredient is timing.
人们喜欢音乐。一场卓越的演讲是悦耳的；它有高低起伏，旁征博引，有适时的停顿和沉默。跟幽默一样，演讲的要素是掌握时间和节奏。
Allow some gaps between your notes.
在你的演讲中允许适当的静默。
Obey The Rule of Seven. There's a reason only seven principles appear above: Our brains and memories have limits. We can recall seven-digit phone numbers. Throw in an area code, however, and we become helpless. So make not more than seven points. (Recent research suggests that making just three or four points works much better.)
遵循7个原则。只记好7条原则是有道理的：我们的记忆是有限的。我们能记住7位数的电话号码。如果加上区域编码，我们就懵了。因此，7条原则足矣。（最近有研究指出只提出“3条”或“4条”兴许效果更好。）
Thanks for listening to these lessons of 30 years of speaking. (I would have added "all over the world," but those 30 years have taught me not to.)
感谢大家听这一场讲了30年的演讲课。（我本来想加上“在全世界”的，但是30年的经验告诉我不要这么做。）